Thursday, January 26, 2012

A History and Summary of the State of the Union

In light of the State of the Union Address that was given this past week, I wanted to do some research and learn more about what a State of the Union Address was. Why do we have one? What is the purpose of a State of the Union? How has it evolved during the years?

The answer to the first question (and a good part of the second) was pretty easy to find. The Constitution states that the President:

"...shall from time to time give to Congress information of the State of the Union and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient."
-Article II, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution

Well, that's fine and dandy, but it's still pretty vague. This bit from the Constitution gives no instructions on how it should be delivered or when, for starters. All it states is that the president needs to tell Congress on how the country is doing. No instructions on how it should be given, how many times it should be given or even how long it should be. I guess the framers decided that it was okay for each president to use his discretion on those details.

Have they ever. During my research (I don't know if I should even call it that since it was so short) I found a website that has archived every single State of the Union Address since George Washington (it's a really interesting website with a lot of statistics about them, I recommend taking a look-see: http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu). Wikipedia also has a brief synopsis of the history and traditions revolving around the State of the Union. Here is what I found.

Frequency and Delivery

George Washington was the president to begin the tradition of delivering a yearly State of the Union address, which all presidents have followed since. While both Washington and Adams delivered their addresses orally, Thomas Jefferson delivered it via written format, thinking that a speech was too monarchical. This tradition pretty much continued unbroken until Calvin Coolidge. After Coolidge, presidents began to deliver them either written or orally (sometimes switching between the two during their terms) until today, where the preferred method is spoken. Advances in technology is a likely factor as to this transition.

The date and when a State of the Union was delivered differed between the years. Originally, it was delivered at the end of the year, around November-December. After the 20th Amendment (which dictated when terms of elected officials would start), the address moved to the end of January, which is still done today. FDR set the precedent for delivering the address in the evening.

Traditionally, the first speech given by a modern-day president (starting with Reagan) is not considered a State of the Union address, even though it might be given under all the trappings of a traditional State of the Union address. A president leaving office has an option to deliver a final address, but most choose not to.

The only two presidents who have not delivered a State of the Union address are William Henry Harrison and James A. Garfield, not because they didn't want to, but because they passed away before given the opportunity.

Statistics

Generally, oral State of the Union address were shorter than the written ones. The shortest addresses were given by John Adams, who averaged about 1,700 words per speech. The longest addresses were written by William Howard Taft, which were approximately 22,000 words each. Modern-day presidents are starting to give longer ones, but none of them have gone over 10,000 words.

Themes

The objective of a State of the Union, as stated by the Constitution, is to deliver information about the country's status, as well as recommendations the president thinks Congress should look into for the betterment of the country. Topics have ranged from the economy to war, education to international relations, and everything in between. Recommendations to Congress have also varied. For example, George Washington's first State of the Union address spoke about a strong defense for the good of the country ("to be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace"), naturalization, currency, and maintaining diplomatic relations with foreign nations, to name a few. While it was short, it held many topics Washington felt was necessary for Congress to review to help the country grow.

No matter what the theme is, since 1966 the president's opposing party have made it a tradition to issue a response to the State of the Union (the official name for this is Democratic/Republican Response). Locations and audiences vary between responses, as well as the speakers chosen to deliver them.

Conclusion

Through tradition and 30 words in the Constitution the State of the Union address has grown, evolved, and adapted itself to conform to the demands different eras and presidents required of it. The address has been short, long, written and spoken. The things that I have learned about the State of the Union has helped me understand it much better than I did before. It is not just another speech the President can dish out at a whim, but a method he can use to address needs he feels that the nation needs to focus on.

3 comments:

  1. I appreciate your effort in looking into this. It's an interesting back story with which many will be entirely unfamiliar.

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  2. It reminds me of the soap box in the town square. Stand upon the soap box and let the people know your ideas.

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  3. I guess everyone gets their 15 minutes of fame. LOL

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